Mebane Native Zack Littell Signs One-Year Deal With Washington Nationals

Zack Littell, who grew up in Mebane and learned to pitch at Eastern Alamance High School, agreed to a one-year major-league contract with the Washington Nationals on Tuesday, the latest stop in a career that has taken the right-hander from a middle-relief afterthought to one of baseball's more reliable rotation arms.

The deal includes a mutual option for the 2027 season. To clear roster space, Washington designated left-hander Richard Lovelady for assignment. The agreement was pending a physical, according to a person familiar with the deal who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Littell, 30, arrives off the best season of his career. Splitting time between the Tampa Bay Rays and Cincinnati Reds in 2025, he went 10-8 with a 3.81 ERA, set career highs with 32 starts and 186 2/3 innings, and threw at least five innings in 27 of those outings. On May 31, he pitched his first career complete game in Tampa Bay's 16-3 victory at Houston. He also made his first career playoff start in National League Wild Card Series Game 2 against the Los Angeles Dodgers after being traded from the Rays to the Reds on July 30.

What makes Littell effective is not overpowering stuff but exceptional command. All of his pitches average less than 93 mph, and he generally relies on a slider, splitter and four-seam fastball, each thrown about 25% of the time. He often posts below-league-average whiff and strikeout rates, but his 4.2% walk rate in 2025 ranked in the 98th percentile across MLB. Since the start of 2023, his 4.1% walk rate ranks third best in the big leagues among pitchers who have faced at least 1,000 batters.

Littell slots into a Nationals rotation that also includes Cade Cavalli and Miles Mikolas, who signed a one-year, $2.25 million contract last month. He is the fourth veteran arm Washington added during camp, joining Mikolas, reliever Cionel Pérez and reliever Drew Smith. The Nationals traded left-hander MacKenzie Gore to Texas in January for five prospects and finished last season 66-96 under president of baseball operations Paul Toboni, who has been rebuilding the organization that last won the World Series in 2019.

The signing brings Littell's career ledger to 34-29 with a 3.88 ERA across 155 relief appearances and 79 starts, with previous stops in Minnesota, San Francisco, Boston, Tampa Bay and Cincinnati since his MLB debut on June 5, 2018 with the Twins. He was an 11th-round pick by the Seattle Mariners in the 2013 draft, just after graduating from Eastern Alamance.

Those Mebane roots have stayed with him throughout his career. The Alamance News previously reported that Littell keeps his conditioning close to home, throwing at the Eastern Alamance field or an indoor facility in Durham. During the pandemic, he had a full gym installed in his garage. Cole McGinnis, an Eastern Alamance senior catcher committed to UNC Asheville, has occasionally served as Littell's catcher during those local throwing sessions. "It's fun to let those guys do it," Littell said at the time.